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Best network card company?

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Vince604   04-20-2002 at 02:37:22 AM

I'm quite new with networking and I'm just wondering which company makes the best network cards.. Looking for a 10/100/1000 NIC but have no idea where to start.

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Zlash   04-20-2002 at 03:16:19 AM
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3com, dlink, linksys, netgear will all work fine.

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Reply to Zlash
OldBear   04-20-2002 at 03:40:16 AM
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IMO Zlash also has them in the proper order.


:smile: <b><font color=green> I took an I.Q. test today...It came back negative.</font color=green></b> :lol:

Reply to OldBear
Zlash   04-20-2002 at 03:49:06 AM
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Hehe wasn't going for an order, just listing off companys. I've had NICs from all of those i think and i've never had a problem.

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Reply to Zlash
OldBear   04-20-2002 at 04:01:10 AM
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I know you weren't but that is a good order to put them in because I have used
all of them also and I would buy them in that order. You did good in my opinion.

:smile:



:smile: <b><font color=green> I took an I.Q. test today...It came back negative.</font color=green></b> :lol:

Reply to OldBear
Vince604   04-20-2002 at 06:55:54 AM
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Alright thanks. I'll go for a 3com then. Well any idea what the best model is?... Don't need any extra ports like firewire but just the one network input...

Reply to Vince604
Zlash   04-20-2002 at 07:41:26 AM
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I'd just get the cheapest one there is unless you want the gigabit ones, not sure about those I haven't had the pleasure yet.

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Reply to Zlash
upec   04-20-2002 at 12:26:59 PM
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Intel is also good.

Reply to upec
upec   04-20-2002 at 12:28:47 PM
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I think the best model for 3com is the 3CR990-TX-97.

Reply to upec
jihiggs   04-20-2002 at 08:51:57 PM
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the gigabit network cards take 64 bit pci slots, if you aint got a server board you probly dont have 64 bit slots.

ccna+mcse=debt4life

Reply to jihiggs
Zlash   04-20-2002 at 10:05:08 PM
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Quote :

ccna+mcse=debt4life




Couple grand is debt?

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Reply to Zlash
jihiggs   04-20-2002 at 10:16:49 PM
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couple grand huh, yea right, thats for the two week boot camp.

ccna+mcse=debt4life

Reply to jihiggs
Vince604   04-20-2002 at 10:21:01 PM
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Thanks I'll take a look at that one..
Well how would you know if you have a server board or not?..
Next month I'm switching my mobo to Asus P4T533.. any idea if that supports 64 bit pci?

Reply to Vince604
Zlash   04-20-2002 at 10:22:47 PM
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You'd know if you had one, and they probably cost at least 400-500$ to start out.

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Reply to Zlash
Vince604   04-21-2002 at 02:20:45 AM
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Alright
I'm on the 3com site and I see Server and Fast Ethernet Cards..
I'm on a LAN so there would be no point in having a Server NIC then right?...

Reply to Vince604
Zlash   04-21-2002 at 05:46:39 AM
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Nope, can probably pick up what you need for 10-15$.

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Reply to Zlash
Vince604   04-21-2002 at 05:58:56 AM
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Alright thx
10-15$??

I was thinking about this one:
http://www.3com.com/products/en_US [...] R990-TX-97

I apologize but I really have no idea which one to get... but if any one has time go to:
http://www.3com.com/products/en_US [...] family=115

and find the best one for a LAN without fibre optics.. I really don't care how much it costs but I just want the best one there... Thanks

Reply to Vince604
Zlash   04-21-2002 at 06:36:28 AM
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If your in the U.S. , I'd just run by best buy and pick one up they usually have some for that price.

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Reply to Zlash
Vince604   04-21-2002 at 07:35:45 AM
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Well the thing is I'm not in the U.S. and I'm going to have a custom order of all the parts I need to build another computer..

Reply to Vince604
Zlash   04-21-2002 at 08:03:53 AM
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Ah ok, I haven't really researched them much...i usually just go pick up the cheapest ones i listed and go home and they've all worked fine hehe. It's just a NIC so I wouldn't stress too much about it unless it's for a server in a big network or something.

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Reply to Zlash
OldBear   04-21-2002 at 08:10:27 AM
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I have the 3Com 3C905C-tx and am pleased with it. The reason I got it was
the low CPU usage and practically 0 transfer errors.

:smile: <b><font color=blue> I took an I.Q. test today...It came back negative.</font color=blue></b> :lol:

Reply to OldBear
Vince604   04-21-2002 at 09:17:11 AM
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Not for a big server or large LAN but I just want something good for my new system.. I saw the 3Com 3C905C-tx but then there was another one with same model number cept for the extra "X" 3Com 3C905CX-tx... any idea what the difference is?..

Reply to Vince604
jihiggs   04-22-2002 at 06:51:46 AM
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i can guarantee you dont need anything but the 3c905c, dont worry about anything else. if you want, i can sell you a slightly used one for 25 bucks, let me know.

ccna+mcse=debt4life

Reply to jihiggs
Vince604   04-22-2002 at 07:37:12 AM
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Hmm alright then. Thanks

Thx for the offer but since I'm building a new pc I don't mind spending the few extra bucks on a new one..

Is it true that the longer network wire you have the slower your network transfers will be?

Reply to Vince604
jihiggs   04-22-2002 at 07:40:06 AM
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no. at least not up to the 100 meter specs. wire being too long and kinked wires are the problem, but they dont slow it down like a water hose, the integrity goes down so information must be resent when there is an error.

ccna+mcse=debt4life

Reply to jihiggs
Vince604   04-23-2002 at 12:28:30 AM
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ah.. I see. Thanks
If I ever went to fibre optics I would need to alter my entire network right? Like get a new hub and switch and network card and just about everything that has to be compatible with fibre optics right?..

Reply to Vince604
jihiggs   04-23-2002 at 12:32:59 AM
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correct

ccna+mcse=debt4life

Reply to jihiggs
Zlash   04-23-2002 at 01:15:38 AM
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That would be a big pain for a home network hehe and not practical. Gigabit would be much easier.

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Reply to Zlash
Vince604   04-23-2002 at 03:22:04 AM
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Alrighty then

Yes I heard of Gigabit and it goes by 10/100/1000 mbps right?

I'm not quite sure how this technology works but it seems to me it's just a lower end version of fibre optics?

Reply to Vince604
Zlash   04-23-2002 at 05:31:52 AM
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1000Mbps on it, the low end on fiber is 100Mbps. Now that i think about it I'm not even sure what kind of medium gigabit uses, I'll go look that up and make sure it's not something expensive hehe.

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Reply to Zlash
Zlash   04-23-2002 at 05:34:39 AM
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Ok yea it's still over Cat5 just uses 4 pairs instead of 2 , although you don't even need that if it's just for a home network. Takes a lot of traffic to clog up 100Mbps and a ton for gigabit.

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Reply to Zlash
Vince604   04-23-2002 at 06:38:07 AM
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Yeah meaning I'd have to change everything.. Ah not worth the money anyways.. Just that sometimes when I'm doing large file transfers over a network it takes some time..

Reply to Vince604
Zlash   04-23-2002 at 07:13:13 AM
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No just the stuff we listed above, NIC, cable, and any router/switches/hubs hehe. I get like 1000k/sec on my 100Mb ethernet hehe.

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Reply to Zlash
AMD_Man   04-23-2002 at 01:54:49 PM
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Quote :


I get like 1000k/sec on my 100Mb ethernet hehe.


You get 1MB/s transfer on your 100mb ethernet! That's awful! I thought my network performance was poor! According to the Sandra benchmark, I can transfer at ~10MB/s. According to the WinXP Task Manager, I get 25% network utilization or ~3MB/s.

:wink: <b><i>"A penny saved is a penny earned!"</i></b> :wink:

Reply to AMD_Man
Zlash   04-23-2002 at 06:08:12 PM
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As fast as my HD's can write...

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Reply to Zlash
Vince604   04-24-2002 at 12:30:04 AM
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Man just how old is your HD?..

Reply to Vince604
Zlash   04-24-2002 at 01:20:56 AM
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30 gig 7200...but the other one is a piece of crap hehe. 1000KB/sec is not bad hehe, I was meaning more of the flow control kicking in between the 2 PCs, and it was over icq so that might of affected it too. If I'm just copying stuff with explorer it takes about 5 minutes for 700 mb.

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Reply to Zlash
Vince604   04-24-2002 at 05:14:22 AM
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haha alright
yeah I guess. Thought you meant from HD to HD file transfer..
Yeah I guess that's the average..

You guys have any idea what the different types of regular network wire and how they operate? Because I thought a network wire was a network wire till I heard crossover cables and stuff that just totally confused me..

Reply to Vince604
Zlash   04-24-2002 at 06:24:05 AM
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Most common is CAT5 for ethernet, regular cables the wires inside connect to the same place on the other side so it's a straight through cable. Crossover is just 2 pairs crossed so the send wire is going to the recieve to connect like 2 computers directly together. And there's a Rollover cable which is like for plugging into a router or switch with a laptop or something, you should never see those though.

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Reply to Zlash
Vince604   04-25-2002 at 12:45:17 AM
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Alright then thx.
What does CAT5 stand for?..
Are crossovers just for connecting only 2 computers together only?
Can't all of those things be done just with the regular CAT5???? since it's straight through???

Reply to Vince604
jihiggs   04-25-2002 at 01:40:48 AM
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cat5- category 5. its just a rating of the cable. there are higher grades but they arent neccissary. a crossover cable is still cat 5, the pins are just in a different order.

you shot who in the what now?

Reply to jihiggs
Zlash   04-25-2002 at 06:07:45 AM
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A crossover cable is basically a Null modem cable for Ethernet if you've dealt with those back in the day. If you just used a straight through cable for trying to connect 2 computers together directly the send wires would be the send wires on the other end and the recieve the recieve, which would result in nothing being able to be transmitted. A crossover cable has the send going to the recieve and vice versa.

Here's a few links with more information on it and diagrams.

<A HREF="http://www.homenethelp.com/web/explain/about-ethernet-crossover.asp" target="_new">Link 1</A>

<A HREF="http://www.littlewhitedog.com/reviews_other_00009.asp" target="_new">Link 2</A>

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Reply to Zlash
Vince604   04-27-2002 at 06:26:13 AM
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Ah I see.
The cables are just put into a certain order and that's bout it..

Reply to Vince604
Kaliman   07-10-2002 at 01:38:20 AM
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intel pro/1000 MT $53 at newegg

Reply to Kaliman
Vince604   07-10-2002 at 05:19:48 AM
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Thx. What are the pros and cons of gigabit networking?

Does Gigabit NICs require you to use special cables or can they use just regular cat5 cables?

Reply to Vince604
piasabird   08-30-2002 at 09:25:43 PM
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I think one valid point is that most computers are connected to the router with 10/100 rated twisted pair cable. You might get up to 200 if you had a full duplex switch in the router. To go faster you would have to probably go straight to the server on a fiber optic cable. That is probably unrealistic.

when you see smoke is that a good sign?

Reply to piasabird
jihiggs   08-30-2002 at 11:43:51 PM
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where are you getting 200 from? half or full duplex you can still set it to 100 base, half is just sharing one pair, cant do up and down at the same time. full duplex is up and down at the same time. you wont see an increase in performance if you use full unless you are dealing with heavy network traffic. copying files between 2 computers is not heavy.

how do you shoot the devil in the back? what happens if you miss? -verbal

Reply to jihiggs
  08-31-2002 at 03:03:35 AM
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but if he only has two comps he wanted to network he could get the giga cards, and a good crossover cable. no switches to slow you down, but I highly doubt that even cat5e has the bandwidth to do full speed gigabit. I'm guessing it would be better than 100Mbit though. but I could be wrong.

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jihiggs   08-31-2002 at 04:27:55 AM
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the gigabit network cards have extra error correction so they can to gigabit over copper. i saw a demo of specialised nics that can run gigabit over almost anything, even cat3, the had a board setup with the conection going over barbed wire, it was pretty impresive.

how do you shoot the devil in the back? what happens if you miss? -verbal

Reply to jihiggs
dstell   08-31-2002 at 07:44:16 AM
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Personally, I like the 3Com 3C905C-TXM, 3CR990, or the 3C996T.

Reply to dstell
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